UK housing market holds up in August despite fears

The Olympics did not deter too many potential buyers

September 13, 2012

The housing market did not stutter as much as was expected during August. It had been feared that the Olympics would dampen the market significantly as people put off viewings and organising mortgages till after “the greatest show on earth”. Latest figures from RICS showed that the number of viewings fell slightly but the number of instructions remained unchanged compared with July. August is traditionally a very slow month for the housing market due to the holidays.

“Little changed in the housing market last month,” said Ian Perry, RICS spokesperson. “Despite the Olympics taking centre stage throughout much of August, it didn’t have any real impact on the proportion of sales going through.”

A YouGov poll shows Londoners are much more optimistic about house prices than those living outside of the capital. 21% of homeowners in London believe that their home has increased in value in the last month and almost half think that prices will continue to increase over the next year. Whereas, 28% of those outside of London believe their house has gone down in value and over a quarter think this trend will continue.